Need to VENT!!

Nat0526 · October 17, 2008

Hi guys,

So I was told by the coordinator at my surgeon's office that she sent my paperwork to Carefirst BCBS for approval on September 24th. She mentioned that their turn around is pretty quick and I should have an answer in 2wks at the most.

Long story short, I called the coordinator on Wednesday because I hadn't heard anything from BCBS or the office, so I wanted to know if she had any news. I had already called BCBS and left a voicemail, but they never called me back. The coordinator said she hadn't heard anything, but she would call them right away and get back with me.

I called the doctor's office this morning and got their voicemail, so I decided to try BCBS again. Someone finally answered and checked and informed me that they just received my paperwork on October 15th (yup, Wednesday of this week) and it was under review (as I would imagine since they JUST received it) :frown:. Clearly my coordinator JUST sent them the paperwork when I called to 'check' on the status, which means she never sent it in the first place. I'm so irritated right now! :cool2:

I was thinking I was going to get the results and now I'm back to square one having to wait all over again :smile:. I'm so irritated right now. I want my surgery like LAST YEAR and now I have to wait that much longer.

I know things will be fine and I'll be fine and the news will be great (because I'm owning this already), but I'm just irritated right at this very moment and I needed to vent. Hope you guys understand.

"And that's all I have to say about that" - Forrest Gump

Jess1982c · October 17, 2008

Hey,

Your doctors office may have submitted the paperwork when they said they had. BCBS told me that it could take 1-2 weeks before they even acknowledge a fax has been received. But hey, cross your fingers, once they recorded that my fax was received and that I was under review by a nurse (this was a Thursday), I had my approval by the following Monday. So you may get an answer pretty quickly from the insurance company now. I would check back next week and see if the staus has changed. GOOD LUCK!!!

msjessy · October 17, 2008

Unfortunately these things happen. Insurance can be a bear to work with, and the surgeon's office staff has to compile everything (think back to how many office visits and specialist visits you've had to get prepared for this...now think of all the paperwork involved). When you've got a busy office that's a lot of work.

But its good you kept on them bc your wait may have been longer without the nudge you gave them. Once the paperwork is in to the Insurance it shouldn't be much longer.

bandfun4me · October 17, 2008

Same thing here. Dr office sent paper work. Tld me to call and check back in 2 weeks. So I went ahead and caled the BCBS office the next week. They had not received it and gave me a fax number to verify the Dr office sent to maybe a different number and wehnI talked with dr ofc person they had a different number . I gave her the number they give me and wah- la she had the approval the next day. Impressive. But I have learned a long time ago to follow up with the Dr ofc and the insurenace just to make sure. Sometimes the internal numbers just don't get to where they are supposed to. So they were able to schedule my surgery preop that week and surgery date in two weeks. We were moving fast then. It was over and done seems like in a flash. That was 9 months ago, 61 lb, scratch that 62 as of this am. size 16/18 to now a 6/8. lovin my band.. Hang:wink_smile: in there.

Nat0526 · October 17, 2008

Thanks for your comments and feedback guys. My irritation might indeed be misdirected at the office staff, the timing was just uncanny.

I appreciate knowing that I'm not all alone out here. It's nice to get feedback when you just want to vent because it helps to put things back into perspective. Sometimes things happen for a reason, right? Maybe this is one of those times.

Here's hoping the turnaround time for my approval is as fast as some of yours.

Nat